ATMOSPHERE n° 0 | Magazine Fiesoli Homes

In addition to the extraordinary iconographic works, the garden has always boasted an excellent collection of floral and botanical species which inspired Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting Primavera (Spring). In fact, the painting remained in the villa until 1815, before being moved to the Uffizi. The garden has 500 potted citrus plants, some of which are hundreds of years old. In the winter period they are placed in the Limonaia (greenhouse for citrus plant), and in summer they are placed outside according to a rigorously strict sense of perspective. They represent the most important collection of potted citrus plants in the world. It was to be the prototype of all the Italian gardens in the world and would exert enormous influence over the design of the gardens of the European courts. It can still be visited free of charge in the northern outskirts of Florence. In 2005 a jury of English experts established that the garden of the Medici Villa di Castello in Florence, a UNESCO world heritage site, was one of the 10 most beautiful gardens in Europe. In 2013 it was awarded the title "The Most Beautiful Garden in Italy”. Preceding the Boboli Gardens, it will see the intervention of some of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance. The design of the garden was assigned to the architect Niccolò dei Pericoli, also known as Il Tribolo, Benedetto Varchi was commissioned for the iconographic project design, and had strict instructions that it should allegorically represent Tuscany, the greatness of the Grand Duchy and the peacemaking role the Medici family had assumed in Europe through their propagation of the culture of beauty. The imposing hydraulic system made it possible to create the many water features present, which were to become a recurring motif in many Renaissance gardens.